Return
to Home Page
|
College Writing
Skills & Techniques Reviewed Fall 2002
|
|
The following skills and techniques were reviewed with the entire class
to address patterns seen in a number of papers. Individual papers
have suggestions or corrections that pertain to that paper only.
Two excellent sources for grammar, usage, and mechanics questions are The
JBHS Student Writing Tools and Reference Handbook of Grammar
& Usage edited by Porter G. Perrin (William Morrow &
Company, Inc., New York, 1972). Proofread all future papers for the
following.
Reviewed with the Writing Sample
Abbreviations & Numbers: Spell out abbreviations (Connecticut
rather than CT) and numbers up to 100 (thirty-one rather than 31).
Titles: A good title can grab the reader's curiosity or work
with the thesis statement to clarify the direction of the paper.
A simple title is better than no title. The best way to develop your
titling skills is to practice. Start with a working title and revise
it as a better title occur to you. Sometimes a good title can be
found by rereading the finished piece and picking out a key or favorite
phrase.
Consistent Tense: Don't change tenses mid-paper. Present
tense can create a sense of urgency, but it is difficult to maintain, and
it does not allow for reflection that can give a story depth. Most
stories use past tense, and it reads like present tense for a reader.
Edit your papers to make sure the tenses do not change arbitrarily.
Use past tense unless you have a very clear reason for using a different
tense.
Be Specific! Remember to focus on one incident or two incidents
linked by a common idea. Include specific sensory details to make
the writing vivid to the reader.
Reviewed with the Personal Essay
Double Space or 1.5 Space: You need to leave space for teacher
comments and for old eyes to rest.
Check Pronoun Agreement: Make sure the pronouns and nouns agree.
Incorrect
"Everyone read their books."
"Diagram the cells and its ..." |
Correct
"Everyone read his or her book."
"Diagram the cells and their ...." |
Clarify Ambiguous or Vague Pronouns: Make sure the noun the
pronoun refers to is clear. Also avoid starting sentences (especially
essays) with "It's".
Confusing
"Parents should sit down and talk to their children about what they
hear on the radio."
Does "they" refer to what the children
hear or what the parents hear?
Clearer
"Parents should sit down and talk to their children about what the
children hear on the radio."
Cut Extra Words: Reread your papers and cut unnecessary, unneeded
and extra words. (Ha. Ha.) Change "was racing" to "raced."
Sometimes we use words out of habit like "So", "Actually", "Just" or "Due
to the fact that." Other times these words (and even sentences) are
just unnecessary repetitions. Extra words dilute the power of your
ideas and scenes.
Vary your sentences: Revise your papers for sentence variety.
Vary sentences by length and by type for rhythm and effect. Try to
avoid too many Subject/verb/object beginnings (Dave ran fast or The mailman
went home) in particular the Subject/"to be" construction. (There is ...
or Edna and Vincent are ... or The Bartletts were ...) These
are often wasted words that tend to create dead space in your writing and
flatten the rhythm.
Show don't Tell: Rather than summarizing or telling your reader
what to see or think, provide the details that will lead your reader to
see or think it themselves. Make them laugh rather than just say,
"It was funny." In a personal essay, provide the reader with a moment
that shows you love your car rather than just say, "I love my car."
In a position paper provide the accumulation of evidence that leads the
reader to see your point. Think of your job as a writer as
providing the accumulation of evidence or telling details that will lead
your reader to see what you want them to see.
Telling
"I loved my car.
Showing
"I brought her home and washed her, waxed and vacuumed her,
carefully cleaned her windows. Small imperfections appeared on closer
examination - a small scratch on the hood, a paler green to her left rear
fender, a pen-sized hole in her passenger seat - but they were the scars
and freckles that made Vivian unique."
Reviewed with the Position Paper
Cite Your Sources: Clearly citing sources in your text not only
avoids questions of plagiarism, it adds to the power of your paper by showing
that you have done some research. The other sources can create a
chorus of voices supporting your position rather than just your lone voice.
A good quick resource is the Student Writing Tools, the source for
the following quotes. For a quoted citation put "the author's last
name and the page number" in the parenthesis (Citrone 19). If you
mention the author in "your text, you only have to include the page number"
(19). "If there is no author, use the first few words of the title
(Student Writing Tools 19). Remember to cite your sources even when
you are paraphrasing. A Works Cited page must be attached to the
end of your paper to provide the reader with detailed who, what, where,
when information typically the author, title, place of publication, publisher,
and date. Consult the Student Writing Tools for details.
Joel Barlow High School & high school: Remember the name
is capitalized but the generic place is not.
|
Its/It's:
|
Its denotes possession.
It's is a contraction of it is or it has. |
"The kitten raised its head."
"It's the wrong time." |
Essay Format: Your papers should have your name, the date and the
class at the upper right hand corner. The title should be two or
three returns below, centered and in bold without quotation marks or
underlining. Two returns below the body of the papers begins
with the first line indented. Do not indent paragraphs and return
twice. Choose one or the other. See the JBHS Writing Tools.
Ellipsis: This punctuation mark of three spaces (...) is used
to show an omission in writing or printing. It is used where one
or more nonessential words have been omitted or sometimes to show to show
a statement left unfinished. They look very fancy, but be careful
not to overuse ellipses. Do not use them instead of colons or dashes.
Clarify Ambiguous or Vague Pronouns: See above. Remember
to avoid starting sentences with "It" especially at the beginning of an
essay or paragraph.
Cut All Waffle Words and Extra Words: I mean they don't really
add a whole lot or at least they just sort of take up some space that could
be used for something somewhat better so please proceed to cut them if
you don't mind. They dilute the power of your writing.
Reviewed with the Feature Article
Punctuation for Dialogue: In general, change paragraphs when
you change speakers. Put the character's exact words in quotes and
set off the attributions with commas inside the quotes. If the quoted
sentence ends with a question mark or an exclamation point, no comma is
needed. (See "Punctuation and Dialogue: The Inside Story".)
"Do you have a pass?" the teacher asked.
"I don't need one," Fred answered, "because I'm a senior."
Consistent Tense: Don't change tenses mid-paper. Present
tense can create a sense of urgency, but it is difficult to maintain, and
it does not allow for reflection that can give a story depth. Most
stories use past tense, and it reads like present tense for a reader.
Edit your papers to make sure the tenses do not change arbitrarily.
Use past tense unless you have a very clear reason for using a different
tense.
Mixing in Action and/or Description into the Attributions:
To avoid some of the repetitions of "he said" over and over, you can mix
in actions or descriptions next to the quote instead. This will also
help to make the speaker and scene more vivid to the reader. Be careful
not to overuse this technique. And remember that once you set the
rhythm of who is speaking (and change paragraphs when you change speakers)
often the dialogue alone can carry the scene.
Potentially Repetitious
"Well?" she asked.
"I'm thinking," he said.
"Answer me." she said.
"Give me a minute," he said
More varied and vivid
"Well?" she asked and stepped toward him.
"I'm thinking."
"Answer me!" She took his chin in her hand and turned his face toward
her.
"Give me a minute." George pushed the hand away and stepped to
the window.
Your and You're: "Your" is possessive and "you're" means you
are. The apostrophe stands for the missing letter "a" Incorrect
use of words like to, too and two; they're, there and their; and
your and you're will distract your reader and may cause her to lose confidence
in your ideas. See the JBHS Writing Tools for other commonly
confused words.
Attributions: This is a fancy word for making clear to the
reader who is speaking. At the beginning of the story and at the
beginning of long pieces of dialogue, identify the reader at the first
natural pause.
"What'd ya say, sonny?" the old woman asked. "D'ya think I'm
deaf?"
"I'm sorry, Ma'am." Ralph said. "I didn't want to disturb
you."
Okay
Avoid Clichés: Unless you are making fun of clichés
or giving them a fresh twist, clichés, at best, create dead spots
in your writing. At worst, they convince the reader that you are
too lazy to be original. The problem is that the clouds may really
seem cottony soft to you or you may feel you invented to phrase "put the
pedal to the metal." A phrase or metaphor may not seem like a cliché
to you, but keep your antennae up and your eyes open. Remember
it's better to be safe than sorry.
Details, Details, Details, But Not Too Many Details: The key
moments in your stories should be shown in real time with vivid, clear
details. The less important moments should be shown more quickly
with less detail. For instance, don't describe the police officer
in detail if he's not a major character, don't list what the major character
had for breakfast unless it's important to the story. This advice
is useful for essays as well - describe the key ideas carefully and spend
less time on the less important.
Spell out numbers under 100: See above.
Creating a Satisfying Short Story: It's often a fine line between
what gives a satisfying glimpse into another world and what is not enough.
Sometimes it's just a matter of providing the telling details that make
a world vivid, sometimes it's the uniqueness or dramatic pull of the conflict
and sometimes it varies from audience to audience. Trying a story
out on different audiences is often the only way to tell how well the story
works. The line between a short story that works and one that has
too much is often less fine. Usually it's a matter of too many scenes,
too many problems, or too much of an action movie or soap opera influence.
Finding the right balance is probably best achieved through practice; it
is difficult to achieve in your first story.
Other Common Feedback or Proofreading Errors
Colons and Semicolons: Effective use of colons and semicolons
can improve sentence variety and concision. (For Semicolons refer
to the handout "Between a Comma and a Period.")
-
Colons are emphatic marks that direct attention to what follows.
As a "go ahead" sign it can be used to introduce a list that the writer
wants to emphasize:
"There were three books I have read again and again: Cannery Row, A
River Runs Through It, and The Things They Carried."
-
Semicolons are most commonly used (instead of a comma) between items in
a series if the items contain commas:
"Only three people didn't attend the class picnic: Ed Arnold,
who was in Beloit; Rochelle Hudson, who was at her sister's graduation;
and John Boles, who had a bad case of poison ivy."
-
Semicolons are also used to replace conjunctions such as and, but,
or, yet and so."
"I'm not good at telling jokes; I never remember the punch line."
Mom & my mom: Capitalize words like mom, dad, uncle, grandmother,
etc. only if they are used with a person's name or as a substitute for
a person's name (not when they are preceded by a word like my, their, a,
the, an, etc.)
"While you visit Grandmother Sprague, Mom, I'll be the
cook."
"My mom drove my dad to his office."
Extended Metaphors: To take your essay to the next level,
find a real action or image in your paper to use as a metaphor (ex.
taking two extra steps, digging deep, learning to right myself).
Be specific!: Avoid overused "telling" words like beautiful,
great, or interesting. Instead show the reader describing the scene
that is beautiful so the reader may see the beauty for herself.
Titles: The title does not need quotes or underlining when
it is alone at the top of the page. Quotation marks are used around
a short story, poem or article title only to distinguish it when
it is buried in the text. To highlight your title on the top of your
first page you may put it in bold, make it a slightly larger font, and
add a second return after it.
Providing Analysis and a Clear Author's Viewpoint: The feature
articles were successful for being clear and respectful of the interviewee.
Perhaps they were too respectful. Without being overbearing, you
need to include your opinion on what is being said. Your viewpoint may
also be made clear by the voice, style, or form you choose.
Parallel Construction: Items in a sentence that are of equal
importance should be expressed in parallel (or similar) forms.
Not Parallel: "The car needs to be tuned
up, air in the tires, and an oil change."
Parallel: "The car needs a tune up, air in the tires,
and an oil change."
Run-on Sentences: Check you papers for sentences with two
(or too many) independent statements joined only by a comma. You
can either repunctuate with a period, repunctuate with a semi-colon, insert
a coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, or, nor, yet) or rephrase it.
If most of your sentences are very long, you may lose your reader; vary
the sentence length for rhythm and effect.
Run-on: "Ralph left early he had to go to work."
Repunctuate with a period: "Ralph left early.
He had to go to work."
Repunctuate with a semicolon: "Ralph left early;
he had to go to work."
Insert a coordinating conjunction: "Ralph left early for
he had to go to work."
Rephrase: "Ralph left early to go to work."
Effect & Affect: These words are most often confused when
used as verbs -Effect (to make or produce) is stronger than affect
(to influence). When confused as a noun, the writer most often means
Effect (result or consequence).
"You can affect the outcome."
"What effect will this have on me?"
"George effected a reconciliation."